I sit alone in the meeting room, doodling in my notebook. I'm drawing Russia and America fighting, like they were just half an hour ago. It got pretty violent, actually, so I'm glad Germany stepped in.

Right now, I'm waiting for Prussia to come and pick me up. God knows why Ludwig won't let me go home on my own. Maybe he's worried that I'll go crazy and try to become one with Russia, or something. I swear, my brothers don't trust me at all. It's annoying, really.

"Fucking wanker." I look up as somebody storms into the room. It's England. When he sees me, he flushes and turns his back, wiping the board clean.

"What is it?" I ask before I can stop myself.

"France."

"Bloody wanker," we both say at the same time. He turns and goes red. So do I. I try to look at the ground, but it's hard. I've just realised how much I miss him. At first, when he captured my country and made it into part of his empire, I hated him. But then, as I grew apart from my brothers (as I was part of the British Empire, I didn't see them very often) England became just like, well, family. He was like a third brother to me.

And ever since I left him, at the end of World War Two, just when he needed me most. His economy was in a terrible state (still is, really) and I left him because I wanted to be rid of him. It's true that conditions considerably worsened during the war (I wasn't exactly England's main priority) but I should've stuck with him. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't be in this mess.

As well as this, I needed to see my brother. Of course, I'm talking about Germany. It was hard to be against him in the war (as part of the British Empire, I was on the allies side, which was fun. Not) and anyway, I couldn't believe what he had done. He told me afterwards, when I was finally talking to him again, that his boss was actually going to make him invade me, too, but Germany had put his foot down and refused.

England swallows and then turns away from me again. It's so horribly awkward between the two of us now, and I wish it wasn't. I want it to go back to the old days, when we'd bitch about France to each other and enjoy our splendid isolation. For some reason, I was the country that he favoured most out of the colonies. I still don't understand why he liked me so much; after all, he had big, powerful countries like India and Australia under his control. More or less.

I get up and go over to him. I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I put a hand on his shoulder. England freezes, and then turns to face me. When he does, I see that he has tears in his eyes. Suddenly, without even thinking about it, we hug each other and he holds me close.

"I'm sorry," I whisper. He shakes his head.

"It's ok." He pulls away and smiles sadly at me. "You're on your own now, and that's ok. You're stronger than you think."

I bite my lip. "I don't think I am."

"What do you mean?" he asks, his heavy brows creasing into a frown. For someone who isn't actually related to me, he looks a lot like me. We have the same blond hair and green eyes, although I'm a lot paler than him. We have different shaped eyes, though, and I don't have eyebrows like his. Thank god.

I sigh. "It's hard. Running my own country. I'm getting stressed about stupid things, and I'm worried about everything, and I don't think Germany and Prussia like me any more. Plus, I can't seem to make my own decisions."

"Decisions?"

"I keep talking to what Germany calls "the wrong people". And I keep falling out with him."

"The wrong people? Like who?"

I consider lying, or at least avoiding the truth. But what's the point? I can't lie to him, and anyway, I don't want to. "Russia."

His eyes widen. "You've been talking to Russia?"

"Ja. I dunno, I mean, he seems nice, and well...." I trail off. "I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

"No!" England says quickly. "You're not an idiot, Sophy. You've just made some.... Questionable decisions. Anyway, what's Russia actually going to do to you? Kill you? Invade you?"

"Actually, that sounds quite likely," I mutter.

"Yeah, well, just listen to your brothers' advice. They're both, or have been, great nations, and if you're anything like them, which I know you are, you'll go far."

I nod. "I just wish I could be back with you."

He shakes his head. "I think I was too soft on you."

"You? Soft?" I raise my eyebrows. "Arthur Kirkland, the words "you" and "soft" don't belong in the same sentence."

England rolls his eyes. "I think I was. Anyway, you're going to be ok. And if you ever need help, and you can't turn to your brothers... Then, well, you can count on me."

"Really?" England is being, well, very un-England.

"Yes! Look, I need to get going I've got a meeting, God forbid. See you around." He smiles at me. I nod and he leaves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I bite my lip, trying not to let England notice. I've eaten his dreadful food and sat opposite him at the dinner table. What else does he want? He's not even eating any more, he's just sitting there, staring at the tablecloth. I hate him so much.

Eventually, I decide to speak up. I don't know why he makes me eat with him,as though we're a family or something. He will never be family.

"England?" He looks up.

"What is it, Deitich?"

"Can I leave? I'm done eating." I fold my arms crossly.

"No..."

What? Is he kidding me? Why am I still here? He hasn't done anything with me the past few weeks except teach me some English. In fact, apart from that, I've barely spoken to him.

"Vhy?"

He looks up sharply. "It's rude to talk back to adults, Deitich." He's been teaching me what he calls "manners" as well. I don't see the point, personally.

"Ja, England," I mutter meekly.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Vot is it?" He frowns slightly at me answering back but he lets it go.

"I'm not comfortable with our current relationship. It seems too... Tense."

Tense? What does he expect when he beat up my big brother and basically kidnapped me?

I think he can tell how angry I am, because he gets up and places a hand in my arm. "You'll understand when you're older, Deitich."

I don't even know what that means.

"Ja...."

"Anyway, I'd like to start training you soon."

I look up. "Training?" I squeak.

"Yes. If you're going to be part of the British Empire, you're going to need to be able to fight. I want to make you into the best you can be, Deitich." He ruffles my hair, and I let him. I don't really care anymore. I'm tired of hating him. It's too hard, and too much effort.

He nods, and then squats down so he's at eye level with me. "Do you hate me, Deitich?"

I swallow. What do I say?

So in the end, I just speak the truth.

"Nein, England. I don't hate you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God, I missed him so much. I'm glad we're ok now, because we used to be so close. Obviously, I know we can't ever really be like that again, but we were too close to ever bear a grudge for long. Which is good.

I return to my seat and go back to drawing America and Russia fighting. Ok, I'll admit, I have kinda exaggerated it a bit, but it's still fun. I look at my drawing, which is pretty much done, and realise that I have unconsciously made it a lot more violent than it actually was. Damn. Why the hell did I do that?

"What are you drawing?" asks a familiar voice behind me. Shit. Russia. I'd forgotten that he wanted to talk to me.

"Nothing," I say, casually shutting my notebook and standing up. When I say casually, I mean that I actually snap it shut and frantically get up. But you know, I can pretend.

"So you wanted to talk to me?" I ask, leaning against the table.

"Da, I wanted to ask you about a deal."

What?

I swallow. "What kind of deal?"

"Alliance."

Did I hear him correctly?

Yes I did.

Fuck. What kind of a planet is he on?

However, I have to play this cool. If I say no, he'll hate me. But I can't say yes.

"Well, if you're serious about this..." I pretend to think about it, even though inside I'm terrified. "I'll think about it."

"You will? Great!" Russia seems damn happy with himself. God, you'd think I'd just agreed to become one with him.

Maybe I have.